White Sox pitchers these days have to feel something like the cavalry riders of Lord Tennyson’s vivid description of the Charge of the Light Brigade: Galloping hopelessly into a unrepentant line of cannonfire (or Cannon-fire, in today’s case) knowing that offensive support is minimal and death is more or less certain.

The Kansas City Royals lineup isn’t exactly a valley of death these days, but the situation that Will Venable threw Jonathan Cannon into this afternoon might as well have been. Dating all the way back to his college days at Georgia, 116 of Cannon’s last 120 appearances have come as either a starting pitcher (111 games) or a bulk reliever (5 games). Yet, for reasons that may become clear in today’s postgame press conference but are not so to this author, Cannon was thrown into a two-on, one-out situation in the third inning of this afternoon’s game, despite his role as opener having been seemingly planned for the better part of a week now. To be sure, some of the blame for today’s chaos lies with Sean Newcomb, who failed to retire either of the lefties that he was brought in specifically to handle. Nonetheless, it felt to me like an abdication of a manager’s top priority as an authority figure: Put your players in a position to succeed. Point blank.

The reason I’m saying this is to ask the question: Why the hell would you take a guy who’s only ever been a starter and instead of giving him a clean inning as he surely expected, stuff him into a pressure situation that he’s actually not all that well suited for? Cannon pitches to contact, for the most part — if it were the eighth inning, you wouldn’t think of bringing him on in the same situation, because it’s one that very clearly and obviously calls for bat-missing ability.

Thrown into an entirely unfamiliar situation, surely with the added pressure of trying to make good on a major league chance that he failed to win out of Spring Training, Cannon walked all three batters he faced before being removed from the game in what the White Sox later called a “right hip contusion.”

Yet, somehow, the White Sox actually won this game.

While Cannon’s struggles may have been a consequence of his unconventional usage, Venable got away with it partly because Grant Taylor was absolutely filthy in his fourth appearance as an opener. Excitingly, the powers-that-be in the Sox dugout let him get a second inning of work, leaving Taylor with two perfect innings on his final line.

Less excitingly, the latter two of Cannon’s three walks resulted in runs scored, which leveled the game at two runs apiece not too long after the Sox had struck first with Tanner Murray’s first major league bomb, a towering fly ball that just kept carrying until it left the yard:

The last two walks wound up giving the Royals a 3-2 advantage, but Brandon Eisert managed to work his way out of Cannon’s jam. One must give Eisert credit where it’s due: Dropping back down to the minors after a full year spent putting up a very acceptable league average ERA in the bigs has to be tough psychologically, and Eisert responded admirably to his number being called for the first time this year.

The back-and-forth carried on for virtually the entire game. The Cannon sequence was highly discouraging, but it didn’t take long for the Sox to pick their spirits up again when Colson Montgomery found a barrel on a hanging breaking ball and turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 Sox lead:

Unfortunately, Eisert’s second inning out of the pen didn’t go quite as well as his initial relief of Cannon. After the lefty allowed two runners to reach base in the fifth inning, Jordan Hicks came on and came this close to holding the lead before Bobby Witt Jr. did what Bobby Witt Jr. does and gave the Royals a 5-4 lead:

Apropos of nothing, when was the last time you saw not one but both teams walk in a run in the same inning? I couldn’t tell you myself, but it did happen today when John Schreiber and Daniel Lynch IV couldn’t quite find the zone enough to hold Kansas City’s lead, with the tally that would ultimately be the game-winner scoring on a White Sox-esque wild pitch:

Meanwhile, after Hicks allowed Eisert’s runners to score, the Sox bullpen put up an incredibly game effort in holding on to a hair’s-breadth lead, with Bryan Hudson, Jordan Leasure, Lucas Sims and Seranthony Domínguez fully shutting down the Royals offense, none of them allowing a single hit in salvaging the split for the South Siders.

Given the Kauffman Stadium losing streak (12 games!) the White Sox entered this series with, a split doesn’t seem like such a terribly bad outcome after all. Last year’s Sox team didn’t win their sixth game until April 24. In 2024, it took until April 28. It was April 15th in 2023. Progress is being made! We think, at least.

The squad gets the day off tomorrow as they travel back to Chicago for a brief three-game homestand against the Tampa Bay Rays. The next first pitch — and the first pitch of Noah Schultz’s MLB career — comes on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. Central time, and we’ll see you there!

Logan Gilbert needed this game almost as much as I needed Logan Gilbert to have this game. I’ll admit I was nervous at the beginning when the game started with Jose Altuve hitting a line drive into centerfield. But things quickly turned around when Josh Naylor deked a move back to first base that sent Altuve scrambling back. When Altuve realized Naylor was faking, he loped back toward second, and at that exact moment, with Altuve relaxed and leaning toward second, Gilbert struck. It notched Gilbert just the second pick-off of his career, with Altuve caught so flat-footed he didn’t even try to get back. According to Gilbert, the move was planned and was called from the dugout, with Naylor’s deke, Cal’s read and call for the pick-off with a glove drop: “Basically, everyone else picked him off. I just threw the ball.”

Despite his limited role in the affair, it still elicited a huge smile from Gilbert, who thought it was his first in MLB, saying, “I was about to throw the ball out, but I didn’t know if that would like, look bad.” I think the moment might have served as a hardware reset for him because the rest of his performance was, in my view, his best since his breakout 2024.

The key, as I’ve been obsessing over, was Gilbert’s slider. He picked up his first strikeout today—against Yordan Álvarez—on an 89-mph slider with more bite than I’ve seen on a Gilbert slider in a year. It was the first of five whiffs against it on just eight swings, with another three called strikes, for a CSW% of 47%. He even used it to put five batters away, something he used to rely on it for in his best seasons.

Just as exciting as the slider was the bounceback in Gilbert’s four-seamer velocity, regularly sitting 96-97 all game, a mile-per-hour faster than he sat at for most of last year, even before his injury. And there may be more in store, as he usually gains most of his velocity as the season rolls along.

He only had two bad PAs all game. The first came against Isaac Peredes in the third, in which he got away with three inside pitches to the pull-happiest hitter in baseball. That’s a better bet in T-Mobile Park in April than at Enron Field where those pitches are liable to end up in the Crawford Boxes, but it’s bad pitching regardless. The sequence ended on a hit off a cutter (a Gilbert pitch I’m coming to hate again). The second bad PA did more damage but seemed like a flukier sequence. Despite his fastball being hot both before and after this at-bat, he was at 95 three separate times pitching to Yainer Diaz in the fourth, the final one being parked in the bullpens. But it was the only run Gilbert gave up all day.

Other than those blemishes, this was a vintage Logan Gilbert start. He was even efficient for the first time in what felt like forever, never taking more than 15 pitches in any of his seven innings. After a 2025 in which he struggled to put batters away, he was cruising today. It was the result of a real change in approach: In the run-up to today’s game, he focused on being more efficient, saying he tried to act as though “if they swing, it’s a good thing.”

He wanted to just stay in the zone “instead of just trying to out-stuff everybody.” I’m going to try to write about this later this week, but this totally tracks with when he struggled to put batters away last season. As a preview, I’m thinking my thesis will be: was the issue that all Logan’s tinkering made his arsenal too good?

But getting back to today, he probably even had some left in the tank after his seven innings, getting pulled at 85 pitches. It was the first time he’s pitched seven innings since Opening Day of last year. “Didn’t know it’d been that long,” he said after the game. “That doesn’t feel great.” 

Of course, much as I wanted more out of him, the Astros were there to serve as a walking (pun intended) reminder of what happens when you don’t take care of your pitchers. After drawing 17 walks in the first two games, the Mariners offense started today in much the same fashion, facing literally Cody Bolton, who’d taken Hunter Brown’s place in Houston’s rotation. Brendan Donovan led off by reaching on a hit-by-pitch and Naylor walked to set up an RBI single from Randy Arozarena. They kept it going in the second, loading the bases on a trio of walks with nobody out. But just as they got Bolton on the ropes, he too left the game with the trainer. The back tightness that took him out today marks the seventh Astros starter with an injury issue.

The Mariners only cashed one of those runs in, but they kept getting opportunities, loading the bases again in the third, and scoring another pair of those runners on a Cole Young RBI walk and a Donovan sac fly. But despite having scored four, it felt like they were wasting a lot of chances, leaving nine runners on base through five innings. That’s enough LOBsters in the pot to make you nervous no matter how well Logan was pitching. I had to keep reminding myself they had, in fact, scored four times.

Things got even dicier in the sixth when Julio Rodríguez was thrown out at the plate. But they finally broke through on the next batter, when a Luke Raley double scored two, including Randy Arozarena losing his helmet rounding second but scoring from first.

The Mariners certainly could have scored more today given their eight hits and nine walks, but six was enough. Those nine walks bring their total to 26 over just 25 innings of offense against the Astros this series.

Josh Naylor earns today’s Sun Hat Award for providing a perfect bookend with an unassisted double play in the ninth, once again putting down a Jose Altuve who’d gotten too far off first base. This time it was Naylor’s turn to smile. As Gilbert put it, “Sometimes you can have fun out there. That’s OK.”

Iowa Cubs

Rained out. The game with the Omaha Storm Chasers will not be made up. Maybe they shouldn’t have run towards the rain.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies were left on the launchpad by the Rocket City Trash Pandas (Angels), 7-4 in ten innings.

Jake Knapp started and gave the Smokies four strong shutout innings. Knapp surrendered three hits. He struck out five and walked no one.

Erian Rodriguez then pitched two scoreless innings, but Nick Dean allowed a three runs in the eighth. Dean pitched 1.2 innings and gave up three runs on three hits and no walks. He struck out three.

But the Smokies managed to come back and send the game into extra innings. But Vince Reilly ran out of gas in the tenth and took the loss. Reilly’s final line was four runs, two earned, on three hits over two innings. Reilly struck out two, walked one and hit two batters.

Devin Ortiz connected on a solo home run in the fifth inning. It was his second of the season and second in as many days. Ortiz went 1 for 4.

DH Haydn McGeary sent the game to extras with an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth. McGeary went 2 for 4 with a walk.

Karson Simas was 2 for 5 with two steals.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs reassigned the Peoria Chiefs (Cardinals), 5-4.

Koen Moreno bounced back from his disastrous first start of the year by tossing four scoreless innings, allowing just three hits. He struck out four and walked no one.

Kenten Egbert relieved Moreno and got roughed up for four runs in the fifth. That included a three-run home run to Tai Peete, who was a key part of the Brendan Donovan trade this winter. Egbert finished with four runs on four hits over two innings. He struck out two.

Marino Santy pitched the final three innings without allowing a run and got the win. Santy allowed two hits and one walk. He struck out two.

DH Owen Ayers gave the Cubs the lead with a two-run home run in the top of the ninth. It was his second home run this year. Ayers went 2 for 5.

Third baseman Matt Halbach homered in his second-straight game. His blast came with the bases empty in the fourth inning. Halbach went 1 for 5.

Center fielder Kane Kepley was 2 for 4 was hit by a pitch. Kepley doubled to lead off the top of the first and then scored when the next batter, right fielder Leonel Espinoza, singled him home. Espinoza went 2 for 5 with a double. He scored on Ayers’ home run in the ninth.

Left fielder Brian Kalmer was 3 for 4 with a double.

First baseman Cameron Sisneros was 2 for 4 with an RBI single in the fourth inning.

Halbach’s home run.

Owen Ayers’ game-winning blast.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans had their wings clipped by the Columbia Fireflies (Royals), 8-3.

Starter Riely Hunsaker was a last-minute replacement for Victor Zarraga and he may not have been ready as he was jumped on for four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Hunsaker took the loss after allowing four runs on one hit, three walks and one hit batsman over two-thirds of an inning. He did not strike anyone out.

Zarraga came to relieve Hunsaker in the first inning and he gave up four runs on three hits over 2.2 innings. Zarraga walked two and struck out four.

Third baseman Cole Mathis hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth inning. Mathis went 2 for 3 and was hit by a pitch. It was his third home run this season.

Right fielder Eli Lovich chipped in a solo home run in the top of the ninth. Lovich was 2 for 4.

First baseman Josiah Hartshorn went 2 for 5.

After a three-hour rain delay, the Kansas City Royals blew a lead, dropping the series finale to the Chicago White Sox, 6-5.

The first three games all had final scores of 2-0, but this one was a fun, back and forth affair. The White Sox got on the board first, in the second inning. After Noah Cameron got two quick outs, Colson Montgomery smacked a double up the right field line, and Tanner Murray, who got his first major league hit yesterday, smoked his first major league home run to left field, and the Royals were down 2-0.

After the first seven Royals were sat down, Isaac Collins singled and Kyle Isbel walked. Jonathan Cannon then came in, the planned bulk pitcher today for the White Sox. Well, that didn’t go as planned. He came in and walked three straight Royals to help the KC offense tie the game at 2. Cannon would then leave the game with an injury.

The Royals were still 0 for their last 32 with a runner in scoring position after Salvy struck out. Carter Jensen came up, bases loaded, two down, game knotted at 2. Jensen broke the streak on a swinging bunt on the first pitch. A 40.4 mph exit velo, roller up the 3rd base line was picked up by the pitcher and he had no play. The Royals took the lead 3-2.

In the top of the fourth, Cameron gave up a one out single, but got a pop out to Jr. However, on the first pitch Montgomery blasted one inside the right field foul pole, 4-3 Chicago.

Jac Caglianone led off the bottom half of the inning for the Royals. He promptly smashed a double into the corner, and Collins smashed a single up the middle to tie the game again at 4. Isbel bunted Collins over to second, and Witt smacked a two out single to center to pull the Royals back in front 5-4. All of a sudden, the Royals were hot with RISP.

The 6th inning is where Cameron started to get erratic. After a quick first out, he walked Munetaka Murakami, Lenyn Sosa singled and a walk to Edgar Quero loaded the bases. Cameron would be relieved by Nick Mears. Cameron went 5.1 innings, giving up 6 hits, 5 runs, 2 walks and striking out 4.

Mears would go 3-1 with Montgomery, before getting him to pop up. However, he would walk Andrew Benintendi to tie the game back up at 5. Mears struck out the next batter to end the threat.

John Schrieber got the 7th, and as it has been for him all season, it didn’t go well, a leadoff double, hit batter and sac bunt, had the White Sox with 2nd and 3rd and one out. The Royals intentionally walked Murakami, the lefty to face Sosa. Schrieber threw a wild pitch to let the run score. He retired the next two hitters.

In the bottom of the 7th, Witt led off with a walk, but Vinnie, Salvy and Jensen couldn’t do anything with it.

Michael Massey looked to have tied the game to lead off the bottom of the 8th with a solo homer, but Dustin Harris reached over to bring it back. White Sox carried the 6-5 lead into the bottom of the ninth.

Isbel struck out to start the inning. Maikel Garcia weakly flew out to center, and Bobby Witt Jr . walked, giving Pasquantino a chance with two out. Vinnie quickly struck out in an ugly at bat. Splitting series at home against the lowly White Sox is not a good omen for the season. The Royals have won just one series 16 games in, they have either split or lost every other series. The schedule doesn’t get any easier ahead either. Man, sometimes I hate how much I care and stock I put into this team.

The Royals drop to 7-9 on the season. They split the series with the White Sox. They are off tomorrow, before being back in action Tuesday in Detroit, with first pitch being at 5:40 p.m. CT. Cole Ragans will pitch against Framber Valdez. After a three-game series in Motown, the Royals will be in the Bronx for a three-game set against the Yankees next weekend.

Ray starter Drew Rasmussen appeared to feel bad about losing his cool at the Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm.

Rasmussen turned and yelled at Chisolm, who was on second after smacking a double, for not so subtly relaying pitches or where the catcher was setting up to Randal Grichuk during the second inning at Tropicana Field on Sunday.

Chisholm wasn’t doing anything illegal. In fact, tipping off pitch locations from second base has become an accepted form of gamesmanship in baseball. 

Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen apologizes to Jazz Chisholm Jr. after yelling at him for relaying pitches to the Yankees hitters pic.twitter.com/uX1A9GbPb9

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 12, 2026

But maybe the way Chisholm was doing it, lifting his right arm, must have annoyed Rasmussen enough for him to be furious at the Yankees’ second baseman, scolding him from the pitcher’s mound. Grichuk ended up striking out anyway. 

After some light jawing back, Chisholm appeared to shrug off Rasmussen, who eventually must have felt bad about his actions.

Rasmussen appeared to apologize to Chisolm in the fifth after he flew out to right. The pitcher looked like he was telling Chisholm his outburst was not like him. 

“He said, ‘I’m sorry,'” Michael Kay said on the YES broadcast. “Wow, you don’t see that very often.”

Rasmussen dominated the Yankees in the 5-4 win that completed the sweep and handed the Bombers a fifth straight loss.

He allowed one hit and struck out seven over six innings. Chisholm, who made a costly mental error in Saturday’s game, went 1-for-4 as his struggles at the plate continued. He is hitting just .179 on the season.  

Sunday afternoon in Baltimore. A pleasant breeze swirled around the baked brick of Camden Yards, carrying the warm tang of Old Bay seasoning. One would be forgiven if the pleasant atmosphere suggested a sedate affair, a leisurely stroll of a game.

The Giants had gone down in order at the top of the inning against Orioles starter Cade Povich, and after Pete Alonso swung heavily over a 1-1 change-up, their offense appeared about to do the same against Adrian Houser. And it’d carry on like that: quick at-bats, quick outs, quick innings… The two teams accumulating zeroes on the scoreboard with the competitive edge of an Easter egg hunt. One of those pleasant spring days in which nothing is expected, nothing needs to be fought for, or figured out quite yet. A day spent squinting up into the bright sun. A day in which a squirrel runs across the outfield. A day in which a leaf blower can be heard in the distance.

At least, it was supposed to be one of those days. Alonso whiffed at a 1-1 change-up, putting him in a 1-2 hole with two outs, and the inning felt over. One down. On to the next one.

Perhaps that sounds naive to say considering Alonso’ resume, but the slugger had moved down the coast for $155 million pocketed over 5 years and was off to the characteristically slow start for a player coming off free agency. He had been hitless in the first two games of the series, batting .167 with a .521 OPS so far on the season. He was getting settled, finding his footing, getting comfortable — he wasn’t yet a threat. Again, down in a 1-2 count, with the way Alonso has been struggling, the inning should’ve been over.

But then he took a pitch he wasn’t supposed to take.

Alonso had called time, found his breath and settled himself, and took a 1-2 sinker off the plate for a ball. No, the fastball wasn’t the most tantalizing offering, but the pitch’s location, paired with its back-door movement, was meant to tease. It was supposed to keep him in swing-mode, keep him defensive. Instead, Alonso let the pitch go, and it brought him back into the count. Maybe the players or fans weren’t completely cognizant of this the moment, but in retrospect, that was when the pastel-colored afternoon turned for the Giants. 

Houser spun an excellent 2-2 curveball that dropped out of the zone, and Alonso just let it go. A great, disciplined take that brought the count full. He then fought off another breaking ball before spitting on another sinker that came ’round just off the plate. Ball 4.

Should catcher Daniel Susac have challenged that call? According to the MLB Gameday and Baseball Savant zone, the ball looks like it may be a hair’s width from the corner, but those might not line-up with the stadium’s ABS zone. Still those are not the kind of dicey decisions you want to have to make in the 1st inning…and on a Sunday no less! 

Instead of a casual start to the game, Alonso’s walk made things stressful, and Houser didn’t handle it well. Two pitches later, Samuel Basallo (another scuffling big man) put the Orioles up for good. 

Disciplined at-bats from Baltimore hitters and clutch contact extended innings when it mattered most. The third strike, the third out proved elusive for Giants arms. 5 of the Orioles’ 6 runs on the day came with San Francisco pitching an out away from shutting down a frame.  

Another 2-run rally in the 5th against Houser similarly started with the bases empty and two outs already recorded. An innocuous single off the bat of Henderson kept the inning going. Down 0-2, Taylor Ward refused to bite at two pitches off the plate before flipping an inside fastball into right field for another single. And with runners on the corners, down 2-strikes again, Alonso dug out a curveball and pulled it into the left field corner for a two-run gut punch. 

The Orioles offense refused to go with the casual flow seemingly promised. This was not a day of rest, but a day of work. Every at-bat became an opportunity to assert themself on their opponent. The line-up worked 5 walks to go along with their 11 hits and struck out only 7 times.  Houser and subsequent relievers weren’t getting exposed on mistakes necessarily, either. Decent pitches were being spoiledby solid takes or contact-oriented swings.

(Synonyms for the verb spoil: thwart… ruin… upset… scupper… scotch… vitiate… muller… ) 

With a runner on second in the 6th, Coby Mayo thwarted a well-pocketed 2-2 slider from Ryan Walker. The spun bloop off a choked-up bat scored Baltimore’s fifth run, vitiating Walker’s chances of putting up a scoreless frame. In the 7th with two outs, Colton Cowser’s 2-out infield single off Erik Miller was hit just weakly enough to plate another run and scuppering the Giants chances of a comeback.     

The stubborn Orioles order was in stark contrast to the Giants’ offensive exploits against southpaw starter Cade Povich. While the line-up has been somewhat decent against left-handed pitching (117 wRC+, 6th in MLB) their Kryptonite has been 4-seam fastballs. Their collective 88 wRC+ against the straight heater is the worst in the league — and unfortunately, it’s a pitch Povich, and frankly a lot of other pitchers — likes to throw. The optics didn’t look great from the outset, then the early hole from the Basallo homer really put the line-up on the back foot. Resilience would not be the word I’d use to describe the make-up of these hitters. A lead has proved definitive against these Giants so far. They’ve only won one game this season when scoring second and that was only because the Mets got to hit first in their 7-2 win back on April 2nd.  

Povich retired the first 12 batters he faced in order, and he did it pretty fast. A lot of chased fastballs, flinched-at curves. A bushel of pop-ups. He fanned 5 with 0 walks over 6.2 innings pitched. 4 of the 5 knocks he allowed were singles. Heliot Ramos’s two out double in the 7th was the first extra base hit he allowed and ended up chasing him from the game. 

Daniel Susac continued to be a bright spot in his third start of the season. He threw out Colton Cowser from his knees to complete a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play in the 2nd. He’d record the only RBI against Povich with a 2-out punch up the middle in the 5th that at the time cut Baltimore’s lead in half. Batting clean-up and serving as the designated hitter for the fourth straight game, Casey Schmitt logged a 3-for-4 night of loud contact. His lead-off single in the 5th put Povich in the stretch for the first time and ultimately set-up the team’s first run, while his 9th inning solo shot gave him his fourth extra base hit of the series. Since the “catch the f***ing ball game” (7-1 loss to SD on 4/1), Schmitt has hit safely in each of his five starts, including three 3-hit games.  

San Francisco had their chances to close-out at-bats, close-out innings, and ultimately, close out this Baltimore series but couldn’t find a way to firmly shut the door. Now they’re 6-10 with more road series coming this week in Cincinnati and Washington.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Anthony Volpe is on the verge of beginning a rehab assignment, but he no longer feels like a rehabbing player.

Six months removed from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, Volpe could begin a rehab assignment as soon as Tuesday with Double-A Somerset and is champing at the bit to get going.

“Probably the most excited I’ve ever been,” the shortstop said Sunday at Tropicana Field. “Just having that perspective [of missing time], it doesn’t matter, I’ll play anywhere, I’ll do anything.”

Volpe stayed back in Tampa when the season started to continue his rehab, which has included taking live at-bats in simulated games over the past week and a half. He is scheduled to see team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad on Monday, and if he gets the all-clear, will begin a rehab assignment, which comes with a maximum 20-day clock.

Despite spending most of the offseason rehabbing the shoulder, Volpe said he viewed it as a “blank slate” to analyze his swing and see how he could get better after three full big league seasons in which he has posted an OPS of .666, .657 and .663.

“Just cleaning up my bat path and just keeping it on plane for a lot longer,” he said. “We found some stuff where it kind of went wrong. I think the stuff we worked on is very objective, and I feel like I can make adjustments off of it.”

Cam Schlittler recorded a career-high 21 swings and misses while striking out eight but gave up three runs on a season-high seven hits (plus his first walk of the season) across five innings.

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“Just made the wrong pitches,” Schlittler said. “Overall, just kind of embarrassing. Got to be better there.”

Giancarlo Stanton got his second day off of the season Sunday, allowing Aaron Judge to DH and stay off the outfield turf. That forced Aaron Boone to use Randal Grichuk in right field, despite a tough right-on-right matchup with Drew Rasmussen and the veteran outfielder starting the season 0-for-10.

Stanton came in to pinch hit for Grichuk in the seventh inning, grounding out but driving in a run that pulled the Yankees within 3-2. Instead of Stanton staying in to play the field, Boone had Amed Rosario play right field for the first time this season.

Boone had said before the game that Rosario could get some time in the outfield off the bench and the occasional start, if needed.

Before Stanton replaced him, Grichuk went 0-for-2, getting robbed of his first hit when second baseman Richie Palacios made a diving stop on his 102.7 mph grounder up the middle.

A rough week for the Yankees with the automated ball-strike system continued Sunday, as Ben Rice looked at Strike 3 in a full count leading off the fourth inning and lightly touched his helmet before instantly appearing to regret it. He tried to talk his way out of it, but home plate umpire Dan Bellino charged him with the challenge, which was unsuccessful.

This marked the first time the Yankees have been swept by the Rays since April 16-18, 2021.

With the Mets struggling to find their groove, they needed Freddy Peralta to step up and pitch like the ace he is in Sunday’s series finale against the Athletics. 

Peralta did just that, delivering his longest and most encouraging outing of the season, but New York’s offense failed to back him up as the losing streak hit five. 

The right-hander said postgame that he didn’t have his best stuff, but he was still good enough to hold the A’s to just one run on a Nick Kurtz homer in six innings of work.

“We made adjustments and got better as the game went on,” he said. 

Peralta certainly did, as he retired six of the final seven batters he faced, working around a two out walk in the top of the fifth and then finishing his day with a scoreless sixth. 

He walked three, gave up four hits, and struck out six.

“He was good,” Carlos Mendoza said. “They ran his pitch count up with foul balls and good at-bats, but still found a way to get us six innings -- except for the breaking ball on the homer, I thought he was very good.”

Sean Manaea was just as solid in relief of Peralta. 

The lefty did a tremendous job keeping the team in the game, cruising through the final three innings. 

Manaea’s velocity remained down from last season, averaging just 89.3 mph on his fastball, but he once again showed that he can still be effective. 

He retired all nine hitters he faced and struck out four. 

“Very good,” Mendoza said. “Attacked, threw strikes, fastball continues to have life. The delivery, the way he’s moving, I like the aggressiveness overall -- he not only gave us three innings, but he kept us there, he gave us a chance.”

The Mets will need more pitching performances like this as their offense looks to get back into a groove.